FILM AFRICA 2017
★★★★☆
Film Africa, London’s annual celebration of the best African cinema, returns for its 7th edition from Friday 27 October – Sunday 5 November.
Africa
BFI LFF: Félicité (2017)
★★★★☆
The (African) portrait of a lady, Alain Gomis’ Félicité is a dazzling, vibrant depiction of Africa, womanhood and dreams of a life.
Clash (2016)
★★★☆☆
In Clash director Mohamed Diab creates an intensely moving microcosm of Egyptian society in the confined space of a police van as riots erupt outside.
A United Kingdom (2016)
★★★★☆
Director Amma Asante evokes a powerful interracial love story that threatened the British Empire.
Wùlu (2016)
★★★★☆
Daouda Coulibaly’s Wùlu is a must-see, tense, contemporary West African thriller.
Sembène! (2015)
★★★★☆
The life and times of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, Samba Gadjigo and Jason Silverman’s Sembene! packs a powerful punch.
BFI LFF 2016: MIMOSAS (2016)
★★★☆☆
Oliver Laxe’s second film Mimosas is an enigmatic, spiritual North African odyssey.
BFI LFF 2016 OPENING GALA: A UNITED KINGDOM (2016)
★★★★☆
The first film by a black woman director to screen as the Opening Gala of the BFI London Film Festival, Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom evokes a powerful interracial love story that threatened the British Empire.
Festival Review: Shepherds And Butchers (2016)
★★★★☆
Exposing the inhumanity of capital punishment on the men who lead them to the gallows, Oliver Schmitz’s Shepherds And Butchers is a powerful portrait of a human timebomb.
Festival Review: Hedi (2016)
★★★☆☆
A tale of personal and political freedoms, Mohamed Ben Attia’s Hedi finds a troubled revolution in Tunisia’s deserted tourist resorts.
Festival Review: They Will Have To Kill Us First (2015)
★★★☆☆
Malian music in exile, Johanna Schwartz’s documentary They Will Have To Kill Us First is a celebration of music and its invincible power.
Festival Review: The Endless River (2015)
★★★☆☆
Drifting through a gamut of murder, revenge and forgiveness, Oliver Hermanus’ The Endless River offers three perspectives on violence in South Africa.
Timbuktu (2014)
★★★☆☆
A magical realist portrait of Mali under occupation, Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu makes for a surprisingly entertaining and satirical riddle of the sands.
Difret (2014)
★★★★☆
Dragging Ethiopia into the modern age, Zeresenay Mehari’s Difret is a compelling account of two women fighting the strong arm of patriarchy.